LAFAYETTE, La. – They were 0-10 in all previous NCAA tournament games, and they went into the four-team Lafayette Regional seeded fourth.

Jackson State was an underdog in the biggest way possible.

That did not matter, at least not Friday, against top-ranked and top-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette.

JSU beat Louisiana-Lafayette, the tournament No. 6 seed playing in its home stadium, 1-0 in front of 3,581 at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Jackson State pitcher Alexander Juday reacts after his team won an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game against Louisiana-Lafayette in Lafayette, La., Friday, May 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman) (Photo: Jonathan Bachman AP)

Jackson State pitcher Alexander Juday makes a throw to first base in the seventh inning during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game against Louisiana-Lafayette in Lafayette, La., Friday, May 30, 2014. Jackson State won 1-0. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman) (Photo: Jonathan Bachman AP)

Jackson State pitcher Alexander Juday, center, reacts after getting his team out of the eighth inning during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game against Louisiana-Lafayette in Lafayette, La., Friday, May 30, 2014. Jackson State won 1-0. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman) (Photo: Jonathan Bachman AP)

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"This is amazing," said Jackson State third baseman Melvin Rodriguez, who delivered the game-winning run. "What we're doing is something special. … We battled, we fought the whole year."

The resulting prize for a club whose team bus burned on a road trip shortly before its surprise Southwestern Athletic Conference tourney run: Jackson State will play 2013 national runner-up Mississippi State in a winner's-bracket game at 6 tonight.

"Coming into a situation like this, I knew they weren't going to be rattled by the situation," JSU coach Omar Johnson said of his senior-laden team. "(The key) was just giving them an opportunity to relax and just (letting) them know the only (thing) they had to (do) was play."

Said starting pitcher Vincent Anthonia: "We just told each other, 'Let's have fun.' We know there's really nothing to lose, so we know to just come in the game to play that we love."

The SWAC Tournament champion Tigers won behind the pitching of Anthonia and junior Alexander Juday.

The two combined for an eight-hitter while managing to hold scoreless the nation's No. 2-hitting team in both batting average and total home runs coming into the NCAA tournament.

"I can tell you that it wasn't easy," Anthonia said, "because we knew coming into this game that the team was a really good hitting team.

"We knew with that team, they could switch the game at any point. So every time we went out on the field, we knew we had to get three outs quick before it explodes."

Rodriguez had a huge hand — bat, actually — in it too.

He had two of JSU's four hits, including an RBI-single in the fourth inning that proved to be the difference-maker.

ULL starting pitcher Austin Robichaux (7-3) faced the minimum through 3 1/3 innings, and the Ragin' Cajuns allowed just four hits through eight full innings.

But Desmond Russell doubled to left, and Rodriguez drove him in with a single to centerfield in the top of the fourth to put Jackson State (32-23) up 1-0.

It held up as Anthonia (4-0) relied on his changeup to throw six scoreless innings, and Juday struck out two in his three innings for his third save this year.

"I knew I had to keep that ball down," Anthonia said. "If not, they would have kept hitting bombs."

ULL (53-8) stranded 11 runners, and Juday retired the side in order in the ninth.

"You've got to give them credit," ULL coach Tony Robichaux said. "Their pitchers stopped us from getting a timely hit. … They came in here prepared."

Ros Dumlao on JSU's historic win

Go to the NCAA's Rating Percentage Index page and scroll down.

Keep scrolling.

Buried near the bottom, but not the very bottom, is Jackson State's RPI.

The Tigers rank No. 271. From that figure, one could arrive at the idea the Tigers didn't belong.

Oh, they belonged.

JSU shut out Louisiana-Lafayette, the nation's top-ranked team that hadn't been shut out all season ... until Friday.

In six trips to the NCAA postseason, the Tigers finally won a game. JSU was a team that plummeted in the Southwestern Athletic Conference season, struggling to win a series, and ended up on the side of a highway in Alabama, watching flames engulf its bus and everything else on board.